MONDAY’S PREP ROUNDUP

The Vandalia Vandals insisted on producing a bit of drama early in their South Central Conference baseball game with the Staunton Bulldogs.

But the Bulldogs responded with the SCC championship on the line to draw off and beat the Vandals 19-9 in six innings Monday at Vandalia. The victory is the 13th in a row for the Dogs and clinches at least a share of Staunton’s first SCC title since 1984.

The Bulldogs, who won a Prairie State Conference title in 2010 during their three-year membership in that league, improve to 19-7 and finish 8-1 in the SCC. Three-time defending league champ Southwestern remains in contention to tie Staunton. The Piasa Birds, rained out at Greenville on Monday, are 6-1 in the conference with games left with Vandalia on Wednesday and Greenville on Thursday.

The next milestone targeted by Staunton is the school record for wins in a season set with a 20-6 finish in 1998. The Bulldogs have regular-season games scheduled with Marquette Catholic and Mount Olive this week before opening postseason against Wesclin at next week’s Belleville Althoff Class 2A Regional.

The Bulldogs twice built four-run leads, but three-run innings by Vandalia in both the first and third twice cut the Dogs’ lead to one run. Staunton knocked out the Vandals with 10 runs in the fourth inning and ended the game with two runs in the sixth.

Marcus Karl went 4-for-5 with three RBI to lead the Bulldogs, who got three RBI from Ryan Billings, and two RBI each from Sam Alender and Caleb Schmidt.

Austin Tallman and Schmidt had two hits apiece for Staunton, which made its 19 runs on 12 hits – including 11 singles – along with 16 walks and three hit batters. Staunton’s Nick Yates walked four times and five other Bulldogs drew two walks.

Austin Gusewelle (7-1) earned the win in relief of Alender, who gave eight runs (five earned) on five hits, three walks and three strikeouts in three innings. Gusewelle worked the final three innings, allowing one run on three hits, no walks and three strikeouts.

GIRLS SOCCER

Edwardsville 2, Granite City 1 – The Tigers erased a 1-0 deficit to extend their victory streak to 13 matches in a row with a Southwestern Conference win over the Warriors in Edwardsville.

The Tigers are 16-2-1 and 4-0-1 in the conference. Edwardsville can clinch a share of its first SWC championship since 2005 by beating O’Fallon on Tuesday night in Edwardsville. Collinsville, which tied the Tigers early in the season, finished 5-0-1 in the league to secure its sixth successive SWC title. The 16-1-2 Kahoks won the previous five outright.

Allison Blume’s goal in the opening minutes of the second half vaulted the Tigers past Granite, which drops to 7-6-4. Megan Woll’s goal drew the Tigers even at 1-1 at the half. Abigail Crabtree assisted on both Edwardsville goals, while Regan Windau got the win in goal.

Mascoutah 4, Jersey 0 – The Panthers trailed just 1-0 at halftime before the Indians pulled away with three second-half goals to win the Mississippi Valley Conference match in Jerseyville. Mascoutah moves to 7-11-2. Jersey drops to 3-16.